When we were born we weren't actually capable of doing a great deal. Oh sure, we could move a little, we could suckle and we could emit waste. At some stage, maybe after our bottom was smacked to make us breathe or maybe after we became hungry, we had a go at expressing our dissatisfaction with the current situation.

We cried.

We were maybe comforted or fed and our expression of dissatisfaction had given us a result.

The learning process had begun.

**oOo**

Life could be so much simpler if an action on our part gave one discernible, expected and predictable outcome.

The baby cries and that means that the baby is hungry.

But talk to any doting parent and they can tell you that babies don't work like that. A baby's cry can mean:

hunger,

the need for a diaper or nappy change,

boredom,

the need for company,

stomach cramps,

colic,

tiredness

or a whole host of other reasons.

Our expression of wish can be interpreted in many ways, and particularly so when we are young and don't have the communication skills to express ourselves well.

The end result is that over time we end up, through a process of trial and error, finding which particular expressions give us which results.

There is, however, an inbuilt flaw in that system.

As we continue to get older, we find that the expression of wish that works well with our parents, or our teachers or those around us who are close to us, doesn't necessarily work with other people in the world.

The end result is that we express our wish, but because not everyone in the world is 'wired up' in the same way that we are, we don't get the expected result.

Those close around us tell us that the system is fine, and it's just that we don't always get what we want.

Some people believe that. And, that belief affects the way they think and live.

But it goes further than that.

**oOo**

Over time, a long time, generations in fact, the same story has been told again and again.

We are told what works and what doesn't work by those people around us. Those people around us 'help us' by telling us how we must express ourselves and what we must do, to get the results that we want.

They go further than that though.

They tell us what we should be expressing as our wishes for life. Things like

you should want lots of money

you should want a good job

you should want to be married

you should want to have a strong religious faith

etc.

etc.

etc.

Like children we take their word without question. We end up building beliefs into our own psyche that have been passed on by other people.

Some of them may help. Some of them may not.

But, when we lose the choice...

That's being brainwashed!

**oOo**

Think about the following statements, ask your self whether you believe them or not.

You must have lots of money to have a happy life.

You must be employed in a really good job to have lots of money.

You won't be happy in a low paying job.

You must get a really good education with as many high level qualifications as possible in order to get a really good job.

If someone has more money than you, they must be happier than you.

If someone has more money than you, they must be more successful than you.

You need to display your accumulation of money to show that you are more successful than other people.

Okay, so the list could go on, and on, and on, but there's maybe enough there for you to see a pattern. Here's the really good one...

I can understand how other people have been brainwashed - but I haven't!

There are times in life where we are told something, we take it as true, but, it just is not true! Frequently our own experience shows and tells us that it is not true. Yet we live our lives as though it were true because we received the message when we were very young, or it has been reinforced by repetition so much that we take it as true without question.

What's the result?

We end up living our lives according to what other people have told us and according to what other people have thought. We invalidate our true thoughts and our true experiences for someone else's. In short, we have given up our life to someone else's idea of what our life should be.

So now, think about your life. Think about the world about you. Think about the people about you.

What do you know? I mean what do you really know for sure?

Have you ever been brainwashed?

How can you be sure?

Are children being brainwashed?

How do you know?

....And when you answer, consider this question:

Are you answering for yourself or are you thinking what someone has trained you to think?